DfE guidance on how to improve attendance rates at your school

As we head towards the summer break, we take a look at DfE guidance on how you can improve attendance in the coming school year

This DfE guidance, Improving school attendance: support for schools and local authorities. The first section sets out the principles which should underpin an effective whole school strategy for attendance – something which requires commitment from every member of the school community.

Leadership and management

1.    Offer a clear vision for attendance, underpinned by high expectations and core values, which are communicated to, and understood by staff, pupils and families.

2.    Make sure staff, pupils and families understand that absence from school is a potential safeguarding risk and understand their role in keeping children safe.

3.    Expect good attendance and punctuality from all members of the school community and make sure that pupils understand its importance.

4.    Convey clear messages about how absence affects attainment, wellbeing and wider outcomes. Empower staff to take responsibility for attendance.

5.    Recognise attendance as an important area of school improvement. Make sure it is resourced appropriately (including through effective use of pupil premium funding) to create, build and maintain systems and performance.

6.    Have a designated attendance champion in the senior leadership team with clearly assigned responsibilities which are identified within the attendance policy, escalation of procedures and school improvement plan.

7.    Make sure staff receive professional development and support to deploy attendance systems effectively.

8.    Governors should have an accurate view of school attendance and engage in escalation procedures where appropriate.

Relationships and communication

1.    Build respectful relationships with staff, pupils, families and other stakeholders in order to secure their trust and engagement. Make sure there is a welcoming and positive culture across the school.

2.    Communicate openly and honestly with staff, pupils and families about their expectations of school life and performance so that they understand what to expect, and what is expected of them.

3.    Liaise with other agencies working with pupils and their families to support attendance; for example, where a young person has a social worker or is otherwise vulnerable.

4.    Model respectful relationships, and appropriate communication, for staff and pupils. This will help relationships between pupils and staff to reflect a positive and respectful culture. All staff members should:

• treat pupils with dignity, build relationships rooted in mutual respect, and observe proper boundaries;
• take into consideration the vulnerability of some pupils and the ways in which this might contribute to absence, handling confidential information sensitively;
• understand the importance of school as a place of safety where pupils can enjoy trusted relationships with staff and pupils, particularly for children with a social worker and those who have experienced adversity;
• communicate effectively with families regarding pupils’ attendance and well-being.

5.    Parents and carers should:

• treat staff with respect;
• actively support the work of the school;
• call on staff for help when they need it;
• communicate as early as possible circumstances which may affect absence or require support.

Systems and data

1.    Use clear, and consistently applied, systems and processes to improve, reward and incentivise attendance and address absences. Make sure these systems are inclusive and appropriate for all pupils.

2.    Make sure escalation procedures to address absence are initiated proactively, understood by pupils and families, implemented consistently and that their impact is reviewed regularly.

3.    Every member of staff should know and understand their responsibilities for attendance.

4.    Robust school systems will provide useful data at cohort, group and individual pupil level to give an accurate view of attendance, reasons for absence and patterns amongst groups such as:

• children who have a social worker including looked-after children;
• young carers;
• children who are eligible for free school meals;
• children who speak English as a second language;
• children who have special educational needs and disabilities.

5.    Monitor and analyse attendance data regularly to allow early intervention to address issues; this includes raising concerns with other agencies like children’s social care and early help services which are working with families.

6.    Attendance leaders may consider providing regular reports to staff across the school to enable them to track the attendance of pupils and to implement attendance procedures.

7.    School attendance, safeguarding and pastoral support policies should clearly outline:

• the key principles;
• rules pupils need to follow;
• routines;
• consequence systems.

8.    The escalation of procedures to address absence needs to be:

• understood by pupils, parents and carers;
• implemented consistently;
• reviewed regularly.

Intervention

1.    Deliver intervention in a targeted way in response to data or intelligence.

2.    Monitor and analyse attendance data regularly to ensure that intervention is delivered quickly to address absence (register inspections, code analysis, cohort and group monitoring, punctuality, lesson attendance across subjects and benchmarking).

3.    Use attendance, pastoral and SEND staff, who are skilled in supporting pupils and their families, to identify and overcome barriers to attendance.

4.    Create action plans in partnership with families and other agencies that may be supporting families – for example, children’s social care and early help services. Commission or deliver interventions to improve attendance.

5.    Monitor the impact of any intervention, making adjustments if necessary and using findings to inform future strategy.

6.    Where interventions fail to address attendance issues, identify the reasons why and, where appropriate, change or adjust the intervention.

7.    Follow local authority codes of conduct, policies and procedures and make referrals for statutory intervention when interventions have not resulted in improved attendance and relevant triggers/thresholds are met.

What can school leaders do?

For all pupils

You may want to:

• deliver clear messages about expectations, routines and consequences to new pupils and families through prospectus and admission/transition events;
• use physical presence to reinforce routines and expectations on arrival and departure;
• regularly communicate expectations for attendance and punctuality and school performance through your regular channels of communication with staff, pupils and parents;
• establish and monitor implementation of rewards for attendance and punctuality and sanctions for absence and lateness;
• monitor implementation of policy and practice, for example through:
  • form time drop in;
  • shadow late gate;
  • planner checks;
• engage community businesses, partners and residents to promote attendance and report non-attendance;
• monitor whole school data regularly to identify reasons for absence, patterns, attendance of particular groups and the impact of interventions;
• establish, implement and monitor robust arrangements to identify, report and support children missing education;
• develop good support for children with medical conditions (including the use of individual healthcare plans), mental health problems and special educational needs;
• engage pupils in consultation on attendance policy, practice, rewards and sanctions;
• ensure that parents fully understand the demands and responsibilities of elective home education.

For pupils at risk of persistent absence

You may want to:

• Establish robust escalation procedures which are initiated before absence becomes a problem, for example by:
  • sending letters to parents and carers;
  • having a weekly tutor review;
  • creating attendance clinics;
  • engaging with local authority attendance teams and/or independent attendance organisations;
  • using fixed penalty notices;
  • engaging with children’s social care staff, including Virtual School Heads and social workers where appropriate.
• Establish a range of evidence-based interventions to address barriers to attendance.
• Monitor the implementation, and quality, of escalation procedures (and intervention), for example:
  • having a review and clinic drop in;
  • sampling of case files.
• Evaluate the impact of escalation procedures and seek robust evidence of the escalation procedures that work and that best reflect the school context.
• Attend or lead on attendance reviews and clinics in line with escalation procedures.
• Engage governors in attendance panels to reinforce messages and outline relevance in terms of training and employment.

For pupils who are persistently absent

You may want to:

• Establish clear and effective service level agreements with external partners to support pupils with persistent absence, including:
  • local authority education welfare and attendance services;
  • independent attendance organisations;
  • alternative providers;
  • youth services;
  • school nursing and mental health professionals;
  • children’s social care staff, where appropriate.
• Establish good relationships with a network of voluntary organisations and charities to support vulnerable pupils including those with persistent absence, for example:
  • mental health charities;
  • mentoring organisations;
  • young carers association.
• Engage in, or lead on, attendance reviews and clinics in line with escalation procedures.

To see our recent article which features further advice through links to case studies from other schools which have managed absence successfully click here